JP2001266083A - Reader and writer for contactless type information storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reader/writer for a contactless type information storage medium with which stable communication is performed, regardless of the position of the medium. SOLUTION: In the case type reader/writer for contactless communication, which is provided with a case 3, a ferrite core 5 is arranged on the opposite surface of an antenna unit 1 of a card-inserting part 4 (communication space) to which a contactless type IC card is inserted. As a result, magnetic field strength is increased in the card inserting part 4, and the area where communication becomes is increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various ICs have been used as information storage media.
Cards are widespread. These IC cards are classified into a contact type IC card which performs data communication through a connection terminal and a non-contact type IC card which performs communication by electromagnetic induction through a coil. Contact type IC cards are mainly used for settlement purposes,
Non-contact type IC cards are used for gate access control in traffic systems and the like. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a non-contact type IC card reader / writer used for non-contact communication includes a type in which an antenna surface is exposed or independent on the reader / writer surface (hereinafter, an antenna-exposed type) (refer to FIG. 5), a pocket type or a slit type, and a slot type. It can be roughly classified into two types: a type having a card insertion portion in a shape (hereinafter, referred to as a housing type) (see FIG. 6).

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional non-contact type IC card reader / writer of an antenna exposure type. The antenna unit 11 is located independently of the control unit 12 and performs communication when the non-contact type IC card approaches within a predetermined distance. Such an antenna-exposed non-contact type IC card reader / writer can communicate only by being brought close to the antenna surface, so that it is easy for a card user to use. Therefore, there is a large variation in the position at which the card is brought closer, and communication is allowed even for an IC card at a relatively long distance. For this reason, there is a problem that the card can be accessed in spite of a poor communication state, and a communication failure occurs during the communication. In addition, since the antenna is exposed, electromagnetic waves transmitted from the reader / writer are likely to leak out. In order to prevent this, there is a problem that the output of the reader / writer is greatly restricted, and it is difficult to improve communication characteristics.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional housing type non-contact type IC.
It is a figure showing a card reader / writer. The housing 3 includes a control unit (not shown) therein. In addition, case 3
Is provided with a card insertion section 4 having a space (card communication area) for inserting a non-contact type IC card. An antenna unit 1 is provided on one surface of an inner wall of the card insertion unit 4, and communicates with a non-contact type IC card inserted into the card insertion unit 2 via the antenna unit 1. Thus, the housing type non-contact type IC
Since the antenna of the card reader / writer is enclosed by the housing, electromagnetic waves are less likely to leak out and the output of the reader / writer can be increased as compared with a non-contact type IC card reader / writer with an exposed antenna. Was.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional case-type non-contact type IC card reader / writer has a problem in that the influence of the control circuit of the reader / writer itself or the case where a conductor is used in the case. Electromagnetic waves are cut off or distorted in a specific direction due to the influence of the housing shape, conductor arrangement, etc., resulting in a non-uniform distribution of the magnetic field strength at the card insertion part, and an unstable communication area occurs. There was a problem. In addition, there is a problem that noise easily gets on a control circuit provided inside the housing.

An object of the present invention is to provide a reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium capable of performing stable communication regardless of the position of the non-contact information storage medium.

[0007]

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by the following means. In addition, in order to make it easy to understand, description is given with reference numerals corresponding to the embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the invention according to claim 1 has a space having a space in which at least a part of the non-contact type information storage medium can be inserted, and having an insertion portion (4) for sandwiching at least the inserted non-contact type information storage medium. A body (3), an antenna (1) provided in the vicinity of the insertion portion, for transmitting and receiving information and / or power to and from a non-contact type information storage medium by electromagnetic waves in a non-contact manner; A reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium, comprising: an electromagnetic wave matching means (5) for adjusting the directivity of an electromagnetic wave generated by an antenna.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium according to the first aspect, the electromagnetic wave matching means includes the non-contact type information storage medium inserted into the insertion section (4). A reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium, characterized by being formed of a high magnetic permeability material (5) provided at a position sandwiching a medium facing the antenna (1).

[0009] The invention of claim 3 is claim 1 or claim 2.
3. The reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave matching means is formed of ferrite (5).

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a reader / writer for a contactless information storage medium according to the present invention. Note that the same reference numerals are given to portions that perform the same functions as those of the above-described conventional example, and redundant description will be omitted as appropriate. (Embodiment) A reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium according to the present embodiment is a reader / writer for exchanging information and power with a non-contact type IC card as a non-contact information storage medium in a non-contact manner. This is a housing-type reader / writer that incorporates an antenna. The reader / writer includes an antenna unit 1, a housing 3, a card insertion part 4, and a ferrite core 5.

The antenna unit 1 is a unit provided with an antenna for transmitting and receiving an electromagnetic wave when communicating with a non-contact type IC card, and is provided on a lower surface of the card insertion section 4. The housing 3 is a metal exterior component and has a card insertion part 4 which is a hole for inserting a non-contact type IC card. Although not shown, a control circuit is provided inside the housing 3.

The ferrite core 5 is provided on the opposite surface (upper side of the card insertion section 4) facing the antenna unit, and is an electromagnetic wave matching means for adjusting the directivity of the electromagnetic wave generated by the antenna unit. (Magnetic material). FIG. 2 shows the antenna unit 1 with respect to the distance Z from the antenna unit 1.
5 is a graph showing a change in the magnetic field strength H of an electromagnetic wave transmitted from a ferrite core, with and without a ferrite core.

Since the ferrite core 5 easily collects magnetic flux, the attenuation rate of the magnetic field intensity transmitted from the reader / writer with respect to the distance Z from the center of the antenna is lower than that of a conventional reader / writer not using a ferrite core. The range in which stable operation is possible increases. Further, even when a control circuit is provided on the face of the antenna unit 1 of the card insertion unit 4, the magnetic field passing through the center of the ferrite core is small, so that adverse effects such as noise on the control circuit are reduced. Can be done. Further, by attaching a shield such as an aluminum plate to the opposite side of the card communication space of the ferrite core, noise applied to the control circuit can be further reduced.

(Example) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of this embodiment. In the reader / writer for the non-contact type IC card of this embodiment, the carrier frequency is set to 13.5.
An antenna having an antenna size of 100 mm × 100 mm and two turns was used as the antenna unit 1. Note that the distance from the antenna surface of the reader / writer is 60
mm, a ferrite core 5 (100 mm × 100 mm ×) made of Zn, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu, or the like.
4 mm), and a space surrounded by the antenna unit 1 and the ferrite core 5 was provided as a card insertion section 4 (card communication area). Table 1 shows the result of measuring the change in the magnetic field strength of the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the antenna unit 1 in the present embodiment, in comparison with the case where the ferrite core 5 is not provided.

[0015]

[Table 1]

FIG. 4 is a graph of the results shown in Table 1. By arranging the ferrite core 5, the distribution of the magnetic field strength becomes relatively flat as shown in Table 1 and FIG. 4, and the magnetic field strength near the antenna hardly changes.
At a long distance, the magnetic field strength was relatively high. Due to such a difference in the distribution of the magnetic field strength, a good communication range between the non-contact type IC card and the reader / writer has a distance Z = 0 to Z = 0.
Distance Z = 40 mm (conventional: no ferrite core 5)
It was 0 to 50 mm (the present invention: with the ferrite core 5), and the range in which stable operation was possible could be expanded without changing the output of the reader / writer.

According to this embodiment, the ferrite core 5
On the opposite side of the antenna unit 1,
Since the magnetic field strength of the card communication area can be increased, the range in which stable operation can be performed can be expanded.

(Modifications) Various modifications and changes are possible without being limited to the embodiment described above, and they are also within the equivalent scope of the present invention. (1) In the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the housing is made of metal. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the housing may be formed of a resin molded product or the like.

(2) In this embodiment, the example in which the antenna unit is provided with a planar antenna has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the antenna is three-dimensionally arranged so as to surround the card insertion portion. An antenna unit may be used.

(3) In this embodiment, an example in which ferrite is used as the electromagnetic wave matching means has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, other high magnetic permeability materials such as permalloy and sendust may be used.

(4) In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the antenna unit 1 is disposed on the lower side and the ferrite core 5 is disposed on the upper side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and these may be reversed. If you want to insert the card vertically,
They may be arranged horizontally.

[0022]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the electromagnetic wave matching means for adjusting the directivity of the electromagnetic wave generated by the antenna is provided, the electromagnetic wave is not diffused in unnecessary directions. Since the information can be collected in a necessary direction, the range in which communication is stabilized can be expanded.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the electromagnetic wave matching means is formed of a high magnetic permeability material provided at a position facing the antenna, it is possible to efficiently collect electromagnetic waves.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the electromagnetic wave matching means is made of ferrite, a reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium having a wide range in which communication can be stabilized can be manufactured at low cost. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in a magnetic field strength H of an electromagnetic wave transmitted from the antenna unit 1 with respect to a distance Z from the antenna unit 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the results of Table 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional non-contact type IC card reader / writer of an antenna exposure type.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a conventional case-type non-contact type IC card reader / writer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Antenna unit 3 Housing 4 Card insertion part 5 Ferrite core

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04B 5/02 H04B 5/02 F term (Reference) 2C005 MA40 NA08 TA22 5B058 CA17 5J046 AA04 AB11 PA01 5J047 AA04 AB11 FC00 5K012 AA05 AB03 AC06 BA02

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A housing having a space into which at least a part of a non-contact information storage medium can be inserted, and a housing having an insertion portion sandwiching at least the inserted non-contact information storage medium, and a vicinity of the insertion portion. An antenna for transmitting and receiving information and / or power to and from a non-contact type information storage medium by electromagnetic waves in a non-contact manner; and an electromagnetic wave matching means provided near the insertion portion for adjusting the directivity of the electromagnetic waves generated by the antenna. A reader / writer for a non-contact information storage medium, comprising: 2. The reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave matching unit faces the non-contact type information storage medium inserted into the insertion portion with the antenna. A reader / writer for a non-contact type information storage medium, wherein the reader / writer is formed of a high magnetic permeability material provided at a sandwiching position. 3. The non-contact type information storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave matching means is formed of ferrite. Reader / writer for media.